what i said in responce to the "more positive then negative" post

[marje]

i feel like this is the most important thing i've said on here so far, so i am reposting it because i want to know what people think....

i don't know if anyone is going to read this as it seems like this thread is super long and maybe everyone is exhausted by it. but i am going to throw in my two cents.

okay, first of all, if i hadn't taken paxil when i did i can guarentee you i would be six feet underground right now. i was having continuous panic attacks for two weeks and could not sleep or eat. i finally checked myself into a psych ward and was there for several days because it was that or put a gun to my head and end it.

no, i didn't ask the doctors any questions about the drugs.
no, i did not first seek books and aromatherapy and what have you.

why? because i couldn't afford to. this is a sad fact of life. some of us don't have the money to get health insurence, or if we do, we can't get the kind that allows mental health care. just like the person who was VERY lucky to not have paxil side effects so are the people who can afford to suss things out with serious and extensive psycho therapy. VERY LUCKY. you can't tell someone "oh no, don't take paxil, no matter how bad it is!" because you don't know how bad it is. that is a really dangerous thing to say to someone who may or may not be on the verge of losing it.

yes, we are all here to support each other and i think that we do. BUT i can't crawl through your computer screen and hug you or look around at your stuff or talk to your mom or go to your job. i don't know what your life is. if you have no other option (like i had no other option) then to take a drug that will make you function in your life instead of take the red bath then by all means DO IT.

because of paxil and klonopin and finally being able to get some sleep and relax i entered a new, productive phase of my life. and even though it is really hard, when i had secured things for myself in the best way i thought i could and knew that i was a smart, healthy person, i stopped taking paxil (or tapered-whatever). because drugs aren't for life. not for me. i am not a sick person. i am a good person. i am a healthy person and it took a while and yes, took some medication for me to realize it.

i would not trade the time paxil gave me to get my life back together for anything less then a stress free world in which no one feels anxiety or goes through periods of angst.

withdrawl sucks hardcore, i am not saying it doesn't. but if you have to do something to get you through, i would have to say paxil is better then shooting up heroin or jumpinf off your roof. i mean....wouldn't everyone else say the same???

i am also not saying that pharmeceduical(sp?) companies are not really F'ed and trying to get all our money and make us a bunch of drug addicts because they are. but we're human beings. we're not monkeys in a cage and we can make choices. it makes no sence to stand around and point fingers either at ourselves or at "them" (GSK, Lilly, whoever).

i think what needs to be talked about in broader sence, in our communities and in our homes, is why these drugs exist in the first place. what point are we at as a society? are we as a society in a good place? are we taking care of each other? what is the true root of the problem?

it is societal and cultural. it's not just my dad or your sexual abuse or GSK or the doctors or insurence companies. there is something else that connects all of that and THAT is what we need to be talking about, not just on message boards, but everywhere and looking at and paying attention to.

and i don't want to break anyone's heart but it doesn't surprise me that somebody paid a doctor to do something and the doctor took it. all those pharmeceudical companies we hate pay doctors too. doctors aren't just out there for the hey of it, not anymore, not in america. they have to earn their bread and butter and it is often difficult to nearly impossible to run a clinic on ethics alone.

[rdjanis]

you can't tell someone "oh no, don't take paxil, no matter how bad it is!" because you don't know how bad it is. that is a really dangerous thing to say to someone who may or may not be on the verge of losing it.

IMO, what is worse is suggesting for someone to take it. Paxil fixes nothing.
It is important that people know the facts about these medication. I would bet if one of the many people who have commited suicide after just a couple doses were told this was a possibility they may very well not have taken the chance. Isn't that why people seek help? They are suicidal, but they seek help because they don't really want to die, they want to find a way to deal with their symptoms. Yet they are given medication and told it will help them through a difficult time. For some it does, others not. For some people it is the end after just a few doses. Others after a few months or more. It is like playing russian roulette.

Saying that there are not options for some people because they are poor is a cop out. We are poor here, after one hell of a journey, fast forward 4 years in total, my daughter still had to deal with her original symptoms of anxiety. She was NEVER suicidal before these medications. Had I known, we could have by passed 4 years of hell and got right down to business which was to figure out the anxiety and deal with it. Hard work.... yes. Scary, hell yes.

The most important thing we learned here was if you believe you are broken, you live broken.

You obviously believe that medication was needed to 'fix' you, I don't. But that is your decision.

Freedom is in you.......

[Iksfreundin]

marje, I agree with a lot of this post. But I DID have the money and insurance at the time, and I could have gone another route, and I DO blame myself for that, even though I was barely 16. I WAS looking for a quick fix.

You and I have something in common here. Paxil DID make my life so very much better for awhile. It did put my head on straight. But that year or so of my life where I felt good is not comparable to the last 10 or so I have been miserable.

You know, I used to blame myself for all the bad thoughts in my head. Used to figure I was so worthless that I deserved to feel the way I was feeling. I've had a lot of bad things happen to me, and I've caused a lot of bad things to happen, and I refused to deal with them because I figured I'd just kill myself when it got to that. Sick, but true, and now I see as I go down in doses, that I am not actually that person. The awful cold b*tch I thought I was. I'm not.

I think the big point here is that people need to be aware there is another way, several other ways, to deal with things than to take an SSRI that may become a permanent figure in their life. The worst thing to do on this site, where so many people suffer, is to promote paxil as a solution. I understand completely, that it has made you and me and others better, but not in the long term, which is what should be aimed for.

I study anthropology. You must see that in this day and age, especially in America, there are no more 'rites of passage', nothing that seperates the very young from the young from the middle-aged from the old. This is a serious problem - and I think that it causes a lot of anxiety because we don't know where we fit in. The feeling of lost control, of "I can't do anything about the world" fits in too, because for almost all of human history, every individual made a difference until the population boom. You may think "oh, but that was a long time ago". Consider that humans have been developing for millions of years, and just over the last 1000 or so have we began to explode population-wise and over the last 200, we have expanded to a point where individuality is rare but necessary. We have grown so much that we as a people forget that.

You are so right about society and culture. Unfortunately, unchecked population growth leaves no room for large cultural/societal overhauls. Look at the failure in Iraq as an example. Trying to change an entire people is just not possible anymore. Do you know that there are now no humans on earth untouched by modern society? I am constantly fascinated by studies done on indigenous peoples, who live simple lives and eat simple foods and have 'simple' cultures (note the 'simple' here pertains to technology), and have such comfortable and happy lives, often dying of old age instead of disease. There are no SSRI's in the !Kung people of Africa, and yet they thrive, and they have more anxiety-causing situations than you can shake a stick at. They live long, healthy lives, nearly unmarked by disease, and completely unmarked by "long-term medication".

I fear what will happen to these people when we encroach upon them as populations grow.

[mach3939]

marje

When it comes to being suicidal and taking your life or going on a medication I have to agree with you go on the medication. But I do think that being suicidal is a extreme. I was not at that extreme when I was put on a medication never being told there were other options, I think others here were treated the same?

The mother of one of the boys that hangs around here a month ago took her own life, I wish she would have taken a pill instead. An extreme case.

You did what you had to do with the information you had at the time!
Good Luck
Debbie

[Maysun]

I agree with you Marje. I was at-the-bottom and already tried so many therapy's and stuff that just didn't help at-all. I didn't believe anything could help me anymore. Seroxat did. At least for a while. Without it I would be dead, it is as simple as that. I'm so thankful for that.

[punky]

Originally Posted by terrap420

...I think the big point here is that people need to be aware there is another way, several other ways, to deal with things than to take an SSRI that may become a permanent figure in their life. The worst thing to do on this site, where so many people suffer, is to promote paxil as a solution. I understand completely, that it has made you and me and others better, but not in the long term, which is what should be aimed for....

I agree with what terrap said here quite strongly. When i first started paxil i just knew that i NEEDED it. I could no longer afford my therapy visits as my insurance at that time did not cover psych. My OBGYN started me on paxil to help me to deal. I was just coming to terms with dealing with years of sexual abuse. Paxil helped me so much in the beginning. I didn't need to go to therapy anymore and had no desire to go once paxil finally kicked in. I felt like i could do anything. I didn't have to deal with my issues anymore. I had graduated nursing school and was at the top of my game. Even though I had the good insurance at that time, i didn't dare consider therapy because i didn't think i needed it anymore. In fact about a year later i didn't think i needed paxil anymore. (this was before we knew anything about withdrawl and paxil) So i stopped taking it. I experienced cold turkey withdrawl and didn't know wtf was going on. I lost my first nursing job of almost three years. I lost my husband and companion of 10 years. Lost my brand new home. Became suicidal even after going back on the drug.

Now look at me years later. An unemployed nurse with more issues than before i started this ****ing pill. The ONLY thing that works for me now is therapy and DBT. (withdrawl has made me unable to leave my home so this isn't actually helping at the present time) I am not saying that paxil dosen't save lives because it does, but at what cost? I went through the poop out. I am living in hell now. Everyday i think about ending it all. Everyday i feel 1,000 times worse than i did years ago when i started this drug. I cry, i scream and rage about like a fool much of the time. Landed my *** in Dorthea Dix during acute withdrawl this time. Oh yeah i point fingers and i've taken out a lawsuit against GSK. I have to say this again......paxil can save your life in the BEGINNING...but down the road it can kill you in far more ways than just physically. Emotionally and mentally i feel as though I am literally dying.

So i'm sorry if i'm not sending thank you cards to GSK for saving me in the beginning of my struggle. All their pill did was NUMB me and make me feel like i could take on the world...how stupid and ignorant of me. But i just didn't know. But just look at everything we know now. Everything that has been uncovered that they tried so hard to hide. I can't talk about this anymore. I'm sorry. But i made my point for what it's worth. This just angers me and by god it makes me cry too, but what doesn't these days..

I need to add...no disrespect to you marje or anyone that paxil saved in the beginning...we are just trying to stress the long term effects of it...that's all. And i am happy that you are still alive and here to share with us.

[genevieve]

Originally Posted by marje

it is societal and cultural. it's not just my dad or your sexual abuse or GSK or the doctors or insurence companies. there is something else that connects all of that and THAT is what we need to be talking about, not just on message boards, but everywhere and looking at and paying attention to.

I agree with you on this. The problem of drug abuse (legal and illegal) is a problem as a society and could never be resolved by looking into our genes or by treating individual cases. Just by being a "foreigner" (which means not being american!) I can see how an ideology can change the people who live in a country. I know americans are all different individually but just the fact that I live in quebec (the most european part of north america which means more "socialist" in a sense) I can see how the "american way of life" makes no sense sometimes. Everybody has health insurance in canada and just that makes a difference (ok, we can argue for days that the services are worse and that the private system is better in many ways but this is not my point). I am just saying that the culture we live in changes us in a way we dont often imagine.

The fact is I would never blame somebody to take paxil or another drug (legal or illegal). Life is tough and we all do what we can to cope.

But I think you are wrong in the sense that you say "paxil is ok as a last solution if you have the choice between killing yourself and taking paxil". You are wrong because :
-doctors use this kind of thinking to scare people. They use thir fear people have to sell them drug and if you use this kind of thinking it prooves that the strategy of doctors and big pharma works. The fact is we dont know if you would be dead by now. You BELIEVE you would be dead but the truth is WE DONT KNOW. A person with a cancer type X has 5% of chances to be dead 5 years from now. A person with depression? we never know since we are talking about the brain which is a complex organ.
-this kind of thinking is freaking since it assumes that people are strong enough to cope with certain things but from a certain level of pain they are completly helpless and need chemical assistance. I remember darcy saying something about this and it was really brillant : it was like "you ALWAYS have the choice. you are NEVER powerless". The fact is you are powerless when you decide you are powerless, it is ultimatly a decision.
-You also forget that most people who take paxil are not on the verge of suicide. So a case like this is exceptionnal in the problem we describe on this board (general overprescription of paxil, lies by doctors and pharmas)
-And more important : those drugs are not there to prevent suicide, they are there to treat depression. Big difference. If you take paxil you have a bigger chance of being less depressed but you also have a bigger chance to kill yourself... Depression does not mean suicide. The risk factors for depression and suicide are not the same. Paxil as never been tested on suicidal people scientifically so to take paxil "to not kill yourself" is just like saying "I am gong to go on a tahiti beach to not kill myself". Going to a tahiti beach will probably help your mood but there is no scientific study on the effect of tahiti beaches on suicide!

I dont want to offend you. Were you wrong by taking paxil? no! it helped you? good! But be careful with the kind of thinking you put behind your personnal decisions because our beliefs shape collectivly our way of seeing the world.

[marje]

i don't know how to use the quote thing but this is a quote of rdjanis--

"IMO, what is worse is suggesting for someone to take it. Paxil fixes nothing.
It is important that people know the facts about these medication. I would bet if one of the many people who have commited suicide after just a couple doses were told this was a possibility they may very well not have taken the chance. Isn't that why people seek help? They are suicidal, but they seek help because they don't really want to die, they want to find a way to deal with their symptoms. Yet they are given medication and told it will help them through a difficult time. For some it does, others not. For some people it is the end after just a few doses. Others after a few months or more. It is like playing russian roulette. Saying that there are not options for some people because they are poor is a cop out. We are poor here, after one hell of a journey, fast forward 4 years in total, my daughter still had to deal with her original symptoms of anxiety. She was NEVER suicidal before these medications. Had I known, we could have by passed 4 years of hell and got right down to business which was to figure out the anxiety and deal with it. Hard work.... yes. Scary, hell yes. The most important thing we learned here was if you believe you are broken, you live broken. You obviously believe that medication was needed to 'fix' you, I don't. But that is your decision. Freedom is in you......."

i'm just going to go ahead and say that i am offended by this. once again, i am going to reiterate (with my poor spelling) that you and i don't KNOW each other. and i don't think being broke is a cop out. a cop out would be like if i said "uh, i can't go see a therapist because i'm really busy doing other stuff." being poor, having no money and extremly limited options when it comes to health care is a SITUATION. more then that, it is a class issue. the lower rung you are in society, the less options you have. i don't understand what you are trying to tell me about your daughter and think your point about paxil fixing nothing is poorly made. i agree, it is not a long term solution, but it can be a band aid in times of need and there is no good to be done by telling someone who just started it (and whose life you don't know about) that it is the WORST THING EVER. because that isn't true. and what russian roullette are we walking about here? the people who have killed themselves on paxil? in that case, what is being done, outside of this message board, darcy's book and what i am aware of laurie doing in new jersey, to educate the public about mental health disorders? if we are going to talk about the fact that sometimes people who get on ssri's freak out and kill themselves, then we need to talk about educating the public not just about withdrawl or the dangers of a drug but what CAUSES mental health issues and depression and having books and options avalible to EVERYONE, not just people who can afford it. if you are already doing something like this, great. if not, what is your point? and yes, for a while i believe that i needed paxil to fix me but i don't understand why you phrased it in such a way to imply i should feel shame for that. didn't alot of people do that? sorry i didn't go into my paxil medication with a head full of pharmecudical knowledge and a medical degree. i don't think most people do.

and to everyone else, i am not PRO paxil! not by a long shot! or pro meds! but i understand that in the class structure i am currently in, in the country i have lived in my whole life and the society which surrounds me, sometimes medication is a persons best shot and i refuse to deamonize them for that. when and if they're ready for something else they will seek it out and if they don't well then, instead of just complaining about withdrawl, i am going to try to help educate my community about my difficulties with medication and try to figure out why we live in a "prozac nation" and help people understand mental illness, IN ADDITION to doing things like trying to take down GSK and make them responcible for the lies they told people.

paxil was perscribed to me because of my intence panic attacks and anxiety that were making my life stop. they were not perscribed to me because i was uber depressed and all i could think about was suicide. yes, i was suicidal by the point when i started taking paxil. no, i don't know for sure if i would be dead by now but in 2003 when i started taking paxil it didn't seem like there was a big world of choice for me or anyone for me to go to and i wasn't in a state where i could have wandered down to the library and got on a computer and googled it.

terra: i think that with your anthropological background and your personal experience with this drug you could have vast and amazing insites into why we have a medication culture. i mean, why don't those tribes have depression? what is it about modern society? i think those are the truly important questions.

[scotty]

We live in a "Prozac nation" because payment for all other types of intervention are not there, for one. The pill is the quick fix that insurance companies will pay for. We have become a society of "fix it now and fast" which has created a nation of drugged kids and adults. Instead of giving a child the time that they need.. we give them Ritalin, instead of recognizing that sometimes life sucks.. we take antidepressants... instead of realizing that our lifestyle is killing us... we take xanax.

We are drugging ourselves into oblivion... happily.

[Homerbcool]

i will let these speak for me...

[Katesmom]

Marje-

There are people who have never been suicidal or homicidal before who become so immediately after beginning or when in withdrawal (even just missing one dose of) from Paxil. This is all coming to light and is right there in the new FDA warnings, at least for people up to age 30.

There are sliding scale and even free couseling services in nearly every community in the US. You have to look for it sometimes, but it is there. Churches provide it, county clinics provide it and universities who have psychology and social work programs provide it. Libraries are filled with books free to be checked out that are full of amazing self-guided info that you can use. It is a cop-out to say that poor people have no option except drugs. And it is hugely insulting to equate any of this with 'aromatherapy.'

The problem that I personally have with these drugs is that they are hugely overprescribed by docs who know nothing about mental health and who do zero follow up with the drugs. They are prescribed for shyness and situational issues that could be helped by time or some kind of self-inquiry. The docs tell the patients zero about the drug, claiming that it has no side effects and that it's easy to discontinue. That's just not true. The 'great' problem that we have (other than living in a too fast world where we just expect too much of ourselves) is that medicine is ruled by capitalism. Drug companies are there to make profits to appease their stockholders. They have gone too far to do this, using a revolving door at the FDA to rubber stamp their desires and using salespeople as the only source of 'credible' info about the drugs to doctors. Doctors, for reasons that are beyond me, simply accept what these salespeople claim.

[Iksfreundin]

Originally Posted by marje

terra: i think that with your anthropological background and your personal experience with this drug you could have vast and amazing insites into why we have a medication culture. i mean, why don't those tribes have depression? what is it about modern society? i think those are the truly important questions.

Why don't they have depression? Some tribes see it as an 'evil spirit', so that when one person becomes 'depressed' the entire tribe bands together, almost like a party but serious, and they cast the evil spirit out. THere are often very strong familial and friendship ties in 'less modern' civilizations, and these ties are CRUCIAL to survival of every member, including those feeling 'down' (which is somewhat rare), or to the sick or infirm. Each person is very aware exactly where they fit in, and what they have to do in order to reach the next 'step' of life: boyhood to manhood, girlhood to womanhood. We don't have that in modern society - I'd say the closest thing we have are debutante balls and such, but even that is not as clear. Or perhaps you can look at bar and bah mitzvahs - but in America, having your bar (or bah) mitzvah does not necessarily make you a member of adulthood. At 13, my friend had her bah mitzvah, but that did not make her able to drive, marry, or make major decisions on her own - it was more a big celebration of her transition to a member of the Jewish faith, but did NOT make her legally and mentally adult.

See, modern civilization (ESPECIALLY IN AMERICA) has a billion things going on at once. How many different people did you talk to today? How many different foods did you eat? How many different pills did you take? How many TV shows, how many commercials, how many planes flew overhead? While less modern tribes are not so simple, they have effective ways of dealing with their well-known stressors. You know, as a !Kung, for example, that you must go on your man-hood hunt some day. But until that day comes, it is not continually struggled over. What comes after the manhood ceremony is what is looked forward to, not the action of the rite. What do we have to look forward to? You graduate 6th grade? High school. You graduate high school? Well get your *** out, time to try and make a living. Go to college? it's so expensive. Don't go to college? You won't make anything out of yourself. Get out of college? Bills coming your way. Hell, don't do anything and debts are going to pile up. What comes after these things? Well, more debt. Then our society is fast and furious, we idolize the beautiful... you like it simple? not so pretty? well, you get smacked in the face everyday with the fact that it's not GOING to be simple, you aren't GOING to be pretty.
We don't have anything that MATTERS. Besides the day you are born, a few places in between, a high school graduation and perhaps a few college graduations, Marriage, kids.... But where are these lines drawn? An 18 year old can graduate from college. A 12 year old can have children. A 16 year old can marry. The lines in tribes are much more obvious - you get to a certain stage, something large is expected of you (man- or woman-hood rites, a time spent in isolation, a hunt, a certain activity) and it is ALWAYS expected, no one is exempt. You may live in a tribe and never acheive your manhood, but you will also not be able to marry, own your own land or your own possessions. Everyone has gone through what you are expected to go through, and you do not receive special priveledges until you reach those marks. There is no gray area. You do it, or you are not a member of the adult society, which is coveted. And you are prepared your entire life for each of the steps. Here, we try not to talk about sex, try not to talk about death, try not to talk about the pain that will come with growing up. We skirt those issues, and then we pay for them later in life. We try to shield our children from the bad, and then they are completely shocked when it comes to pass.

If a mother dies in a tribe (most tribes), you are given to a relative and treasured, they aren't 'bothered' by the extra work they must do for you because there is great support. WE are too big for this to work. And we live so intertwined with money, which is a great hinderance. Think about what stresses you out - now imagine if those things would be present if you had the power to attain everything you needed from yourself and not outside society. Food, water, shelter, love... We think we need SO MUCH, but in truth, many people live every day, happy and content without so much as an aspirin or Pepto Bismal, without a cell phone or even a single book.

That's just not possible in our society. And those who make it work get made fun of. Ever made fun of a hillbilly or the Amish? These are just two examples of groups that make the least work for them from within, and they are happy as well. Something to think about.

[Homerbcool]

Think of bac kwhen the car was invented..great thing got people moving in the right direction quicker...but what if no one had thought of brakes for the car...now you have an Idea of what a great invention paxil and any ssri are....

would you tell someone to get into a car that would get them where they want to go in a real hurray but with no brakes...I think not.

Would you even adivse some one who is used to taking a horse to get into this car, knowing a head of time it had no brakes...I think not

[rdjanis]

I understand totally, and I still do NOT believe that paxil saved your life. I also know that many people have committed suicide after a few doses of ssri's. It didn't save them.... but by not taking the medication they would still be here today. Paxil withdrawal prevents a person from healing and working on their problems.

You can choose to feel offended if you wish to. I have seen, felt and lived the damage these medications do. In the beginning, my daughter and I thought that this was the answer as well. Fast forward a number of years, I have seen the damage, I have listened to parents tears, and presently sit here waiting to hear if a dear friend of paxilprogress will in fact make it through his suicide attempt....... because of ****ing paxil. So what should his daughter be told when she grows up and is old enough to understand? Paxil saved him in the beginning? Or better yet, how about these medications have had only short clinical trials. The damage they cause is just coming to light, your daddy didn't know, he would never have taken the chance on losing a moment with you.

I will never take a different stand than that as I have right now. I have fought long and hard to bring awareness. IMO..... paxil ruins lives, it does not save them.

I won't respond any more to this thread, you are entitled to your opinion, just as I am to mine. If you choose to take offence, then that is what you choose, however note that my intentions were not to do so! I do wish you well and success through withdrawal.

[punky]

*edit*lol
Rita are you talking to me specifically here?

[punky]

If anything i am a poster child for just how badly paxil can ruin lives.

[Buxy`s Back]

says it all for me too rita ....spot on

[rdjanis]

Originally Posted by marje

." being poor, having no money and extremly limited options when it comes to health care is a SITUATION. more then that, it is a class issue. the lower rung you are in society, the less options you have. i don't understand what you are trying to tell me about your daughter and think your point about paxil fixing nothing is poorly made.

What I am saying is we were poor. I chose to stay home with my child to ensure a suicide attempt was not followed through on while withdrawing. We lost our home, I lost my job, I did not have any money for therapy, supplements etc. My daughter was still successful because it does not cost money to read about therapy, get books from a library, and practice daily at home what any expensive therapist would do. The cheapest and most important part of over coming anxiety was belief in one's self, not accepting broken, and real hard work without drugs.

Poor people have choices as well. I agree it can be a much more difficult journey, but is still very doable.... we did it.

[rdjanis]

Originally Posted by punky

Rita are you talking to me specifically here?

No Punky, I was trying to use this scenerio as an example and realized by not pertaining to the individual it made no sense.... not a good day here LOL

So I wrote the post again.... hence the changes.

[Homerbcool]

Originally Posted by joanne

says it all for me too rita ....spot on

not only that spot never to be removed when it comes to telling the world the ugly truth about these evil drugs..evil, evil, evil...and I dare some one to tell me other wise, as i too wait for word on shane...if you want to see who is really hurt by these drugs go to the member list and look up shaney..see the photo of his beautiful little girl who just may now be father less thanks to this wonder drug...and to gsk, all it is to them is a loss of a customer...oh well, here comes another one....

wake up people..it is beyond time to tell yuor friends your neighbors your teammates, your co-workers...tell them of your struggles...tell them of shane's attemped and hopefully failed suicide attempt...just in case that one person, one that is all, might say hey I remember hearing from some one that this drug is dangerous, perhaps I should look into it more...that is all one person...love for millions but if we can save one person..then it is worth it...

[punky]

ok rita...i'm super sensitive right now. Common sense isn't kickin in for me real well as of late. Thanks for replying.

[rdjanis]

It's ok Punky, when I read it, sounded like I wrote it to you, which is why I removed it ..... sorry for any confusion!!

[Suze]

This thread is taking on the tone of becoming divisive. Hope not. I think we're all here to not only share our personal experiences, but also to have those experiences honoured as being a part of what brought us here in the first place. My favourite Maya Angelou-ism, quoted here numerous times, is: "We do the best with what we know. When we know better, we do better."

There are so many good points on this thread, and so many things that make me step back and really pause to think. Marje, I'm like you in some ways. I remember posting on a thread that was my first experience with troll-like behaviour something like this: Paxil saved my life....but now I want it back. I still believe that to a large degree.

Poverty, culture, politics (the personal IS political), even geography all play a huge role in our health and wellness, and in our approach to managing them. I think it's by taking a uni-dimensional approach to a multi-faceted issue that we get hooped into thinking that some pill will be our pretty pink saviour in the long run. It's seductive all right. It was for me when I specifically asked my doctor for it anyhow. Don't think I'm alone on that one.

I think when we limit our options to either this...or that...the fear really builds up, our helplessness feeds that fear, and we do indeed reach for what seems like a path of lesser resistence. In continuing to educate folks on the myriad options available--and to keep advocating for truth in science/advertising/marketing, etc ad nauseum--we can all feel good about *being* the change that we want to create.

One person at a time.

[safarigal]

Yup, if I hadn't taken SSRIs when I did way back in the beginnning I'd be dead.

The stress I was under at the time could not be resolved. You can read my journal for the whole story.

Bottom line is that SSRIs should not be given out as a quick fix to every probem. The prescribing should also be limited to qualified psychiatrists, IMHO.

[sarah]

When I first started paxhell I had 2 little boys under the age of 4 and had been housebound for 6 weeks with the most debilitating panic attacks. Each time I had a panic attack, and there were hundreds, the 3 of us would sit on our chairs and blow into our paper bags. I made it into a game, but for me it was the most awful time of my life. Paxhell meant I was able to go out and about again, and carry on with my life. Little did I know then, that one day I would get paxhell poopout, and the rest as we say is history. I gave paxhell the honour of being the "pill that saved my life", but I know now that it wasn't. I was the one that did the work. I found out that my hormone imbalance, due to a sterilisation, was the reason for my panic attacks. I wasn't going crazy at all. I didn't need a band aid to "fix" my problems, and should never have been put on it at all. I probably needed hrt at that point, not an ad. These drugs are dispensed like candy. Look at your patient doctor. Talk to your patient doctor. LISTEN to your patient doctor. Maybe YOU will learn something from them, that helps you to realise that there is not a pill to fix everything. We are not a one size fits all society. Why then do doctors think a pill like paxhell can fix whatever is "wrong" with us? Until this changes there will be many more Shaney's, and that's a fact.